Mechanism for removing useful fiber from seeds



A. A. VARDELL, DECD.

H. c. JAHDELL EXECUTRIX MECHANISM FOR REMOVING USEFUL FIBER FROM SEEDS.

APPLlC/ IUN FiLED AUG 22. l9 3 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Saar/0M A. A. VARDELL, DECD.

H- G. VARDELL, EXECUTRIX.

MECHANISM FOR REMOVING USEFUL FIBER FROM.SEEDS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.22. I9I9.

Patented Aug, 22 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNHTED stares PATENT CCDFFEQEO ARTHUR A. VARDELL,

OF DALLAS, TEXAS; HIGHLAND GEE VARDELL EXECUTRIX 0F SAID ARTHUR A. VARDELL, DECEASED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug, 22, 1922.,

Application filed August 22, 1919. Serial No. 319,105.

T 0 all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR A. VARDELL, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Bemovino' Useful Fiber from Seeds, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the general class of machines adapted to remove fibers from their attachments, such as gins, cotton seed linters, wool-burring machines and the like.

Machines of this type are broadly alike, but for cotton the operation is customarily carried out in two stages, the gin proper being relied upon to remove the long-fibred cotton from the seed and the linter [or de-.

linter] gin being employed to work upon the cotton seed, the product of the gin proper, to remove from it the short adherent fibers. The gin proper and the linter gin differ from each other essentially only in the adjustments, proportions or dimensions of the parts appropriate to their specific duties. This invention has particular reference to means for the recovery of fiber or particles, applicable to saw gins for either use and to other machines.

All saw guns as heretofore constructed deliver a great volume of air as an incident of the construction and operation of the dofiing brush forming an essential part of the gin. This air, charged with fine particles of lint and dust, when delivered into the room, menaces the health and efficiency of the operators, and constitutes a serious fire risk. I am aware of attempts to minimize these risks by connecting the individual gins to deliver into a common conveyor, or by airdofling the saws by separately generated blast or suction currents, or by other expedients, none of which are wholly successful for this purpose.

In the best practice of which I am aware in the prior art, pneumatic dofling, or the common collection of fiber by delivery into a common flue or conveyor has resulted in unnecessary expenditure of power, often amounting to four or more horse-power per gin. The rotating elements of the gin itself expend much power in moving with them a great volume of air. a.

When external pneumatic means heretofore have been employed the air-moving efi ort of the elements of the gin has been retained, with resultant waste of effort.

So far as I am aware, the operation of prior gins and linters also has been defective in failure to prevent removal with the seed of a proportion of the fiber actually separated by the gin saws, and in failure properly to separate from the good lint a large portion of motes capable of such separation during the removal of the fiber from the seed, and difiicult or impossible to remove at a later stage of treatment. Loss has also been occasioned whenever access to the saws became necessary, such access involving waste of the whole contents of unginned material in the roll-box.

Principal objects of this invention are to provide. for the complete and economical recovery of the fiber separated from the seed by the gin, to'separate from the fiber a maximum percentage of motes and impurities, and to provide a gin or linter adapted to operate without delivering into the workroom a stream of air containing dust and fiber from the material being ginned; to reduce the volume of air carrying the fiber, and to provide for pneumatically conveying and delivering fiber from a fiber-removing implement, such as a gin saw in an improved manner. Further objects are to provide in a gin 0r linter gin for the improved separation of motes from the product, to provide for the improved separation from the saws of a saw gin of fibers and thereby to save lint heretofore wasted, to provide for separating from the lint and removing from each gin a large proportion of the dirt, sand, leaf-scrap and other waste; and for these purposes to provide a gin economical in power and adapted to be maintained in adj ustment during long wear without replacement of parts and arranged for access to the working parts without loss of the unginned material in the gin.

The invention comprises a new relation of the doffer element of such gins to the saw or other fiber remover, and a new relation to these elements of the gin of the means employed for removing motes and impurities from the useful fiber, as well as an improved construction of ginning apparatus characterized by compactness, durability and improved capacity for access to the parts and for adjustment.

I have elected to illustrate the genus comprised in the invention by an example of one species for use as a linter gin as shown in the accompanying drawings, in Which Fig. 1 is a vertical central section of a linter gin according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating another position of the parts; and

vFig. 3 is a longitudinal section of a dofi'er brush employed in the new relation.

In the preferred form of my device shown I have illustrated one instance of a new genus of saw gins in which an improvedrelation of the dofl'er brush to the saws, based upon-observation of a mode of operation of such brushes not heretofore subscribed to by those skilled in the art is utilized to improve both the working conditions of ginneries and the economy of the recovery of fiber. It has hereto-fore been believed that the air-currenti set up by the rotating gin brush employed to dofl the useful fiber from the saw cylinders is essential to the function of the brush as a doffer. It has also been believed that a relatively slight interengagement of the brush wit the space between the individual saws of the saw cylinder was the best arrangement, and the losses of fiber heretofore observed due to the return of useful fiber into the seed cotton or between the bars of the grate, thence to pass out through the seed-gate, have been accepted as inevitable. present gin a deeper engagement than usual of the brush with the saw is employed, a much smaller brush than usual is preferred, and the function of the brush to move a current of air, while utilized, is no longer exclusively relied upon to create such air currents as are needed in the gin, the brush being designed to have as little function as a fan as possible, the conveying movements within the 'gin being controlled by suction currents exteriorly created. In one aspect the invention relates to a rearrangement of the gin in respect to these air currents whereby heretofore lost fiber is recovered, and waste of effort avoided. In another aspect the invention is directed to the reduction of the volume of air moved by the gin brush, heretofore thought to be unavoidable and heretofore permitted to create in the surroundings of the gin a bad condition due to escape of air laden with fiber and with dust blown out of the gin by the operation of its elements. The present gin not only recovers all of the fiber but avoids the In the pollution of the air of the place in which it is installed by the device of inducing inward currents of air into the machine and its connections everywhere it is open to the air of the room, the only air-current leaving the gin being a suction current conveying away the relatively pure lint in a closed flue. This current is of very greatly less volume than the air-current blown away from the gin in the ordinary operation, and may be of correspondingly higher velocity and be carried b a smaller flue, operating to convey the ber with less consumption of power than is required by the usual arrangement of gin-parts working as a fan and blowing a larger volume of air at a lower velocity away from the gin.

Referring to the drawings, the machine frame as usual may comprise uprights 1, side panels 1, and wooden or metal longitudinal struts 1 1, 1, etc., the end frames comprising the uprights 1 and transverse members 1 having thereon bearings for a saw shaft 2 having if desired, adjustments permitting the shaft 2 to be raised or 90 moved as wear and recutting of the sawcylinder made up of shaft 2 and saws 10 reduces the diameter of the cylinder, which may be driven as usual. The longitudinal frame member 1 may carry any preferred feeder hopper 12 and bearings and actuating means for feeder roll 13, feeder gate 14, and other desired adjuncts of the feeder mechanism. The pivoted breast 8, presently referred to, may as usual carry a grate i 9 and a float roll shaft 6.

A doffer brush 5 rotating with a driven shaft 3 on bearings presently to be mentioned, is so arranged to bring the shaft 3 beneath and but little behind the vertical from the center of saw-cylinder 2, so that contact of the saws 10 with the brush 5 occurs near [or much nearer than usual to] the bottom of the saw cylinder, for purposes which will presently appear.

The disposition of the brush with respect to the saw cylinder enables the centrifugal throw of the saw cylinder, by which the motes and heavy impurities are thrown off, to be utilized to separate these motes from the fiber clinging to the saws. The prior art procedure has been to deposit the motes on the dofling-brush and then to rely upon the centrifugal throw of the dofling-b'rush and the air-current induced by it to separate the motes from the fiber. This is fundamentally bad practice, since when once engaged with the fiber mat carried by the doffer-brush, the separation of the motes can not be thoroughly effected.

The machine comprises a mote-deflector 20, preferably mounted for rotatable adjustment on a longitudinal-strut 21, by means of a slotted sector 22 on deflector 20, and a bolt 23 in the end panel 1 The 130 point 24 of deflector 20 when adjusted is near the periphery of the saws and behind them as shown. The mote deflector is imperforate and extends the width of the saw cylinder, its lower edge being in substantially air-tight contact with a partition 26 constituting a back-seal above and behind the deflector 20 and the saws 10, and eX- tending from the longitudinal 1 to a brushcasing 37 presently mentioned. Ends 27 bolted to one of the uprights 1 complete the enclosure of a moting chamber 28, preferably having a trough 26 at the bottom for a screw mote-conveyor 30 delivering into a chute 31.

The air currents flowing in the neighborhood of the mote deflector are important to its function. The gin is therefore arranged so that that part of the saw cylinder between the grate-fall and the mote deflector works in the controllable air-space 28 protected by back seal 26 which is provided with an air inlet opening 32 adapted to be regulated in any convenient way, as by a sliding regulator damper 33 controlling air inlet openings 32. One section of back seal 26 may be hinged at Y34, and held closed by hand-screws 35. The sealing of the spaces back of the gin brush is completed by vertical flexible baffles of leather, rubber or the like on the end-panels 1, one of which is shown-at 36 in contact with the ends of the saw cylinder and extending from longitudinal 1 to the front upright 1. A concave brush-casing 37 surrounds and stands in, or nearly in, contact with a long section of the periphery of the brush. Casing 37 is related to the variable position of the brush shaft 3 as presently explained.

Instead of the brush as usual being arranged to have a fanning action by being built up of longitudinal rows of bristles, the brush 5 may be solid, or [as shown in Fig. 3] consist of annular rows of bristles, each row having tufts arranged to engage at each side face of each saw.

Referring to Fig. 3 the brush 5 may consist of separator disks 5 of hard fiber, wood or metal strung on an enlargement 3 of shaft 3 threaded .at 3* to receive compression nuts 5*, the disks 5 having therein turned grooves 5 to receive annular brushtuft strips 5 between which the radial tufts 5 are held. The brush strips may be fiber, metal or paper, and the thickness of the separator disks may, as shown, be the distance between the saws 10, or a divisor of this distance. In the latter case, there are rows of tufts between the saws, available for use by shifting the shaft .3 endwise.

Thetufts 5 run in line with the saws 10, some of their bristles wiping each side of the saw. The whole diameter of the brush may be, and preferably is, much less than in usual practice. Such a brush may be rotated at the usual speeds of from 1000 to 1200 R. P. M. without blowing a strong air-current thereby.

For adjustment purposes the brush is mounted in bearings, not shown, carried by and vertically adjustable on vertical slides 40 in ways 41, 41, on the frame, each slide having integral lugs 44 straddling a spanner nut 45 on a screw 46 fast in a lug of the guide plate 41 bolted to the end frames. By turning the nut 45 the brush 5 and the casing 37 are adjusted vertically together.

The lint is carried away from the gin through a lint trunk 50, preferably made as a curved pipe of flat rectangular cross- 'section, having flanges 51 bolted to channel beams 52 carried by the plates 40. The delivery end of this lint trunk takes into an opening 54 in a casting 55 bolted to the gin frame, and provided with screws 56 in openings in a flange 57 fastened to the lint trunk 50, for initial adjustment of trunk 50 with plates 40. Attached to the casting 55 a transition pipe 59 delivers into the main suction conveyor conduit 60. A hand-valve 61 may be arranged in a casing 62 forming the upper end of transition 59, and suitably supported on a framemember of the machine as shown at 1. A lint trunk nozzle 65 bridges the distance from the channels 52 to a channel 66 joining the front edges of the opposite plates 40.

The surroundings of the brush 5 are completed by an adjustable front housing plate 70 and end plates 72, pivoted at 71 to lugs on the plates 40 and held in place by vertically adjust-able stops 73. The front section of the housing may be lowered for access to the brush, and to adjust the space 74 into which the dof'fer-brush centrifugally throws the lint into the air flowing into the lint-trunk 50.

The front lip of the housing plate 70 is made adjustable by an airregulator plate 7 5 of angular cross-section having one wing adjustably fastened to the plate 70, as by thumb-bolts 76 in slots in plate 70, the other wing extending downwardly and forwardly from a point in the angle between the gratefall 9, 11, and saws 10, preferably far enough to receive upon its surface the stream of seeds falling from the breast.

It is desirable as usual to provide for the adjustment of the gin-grate 9 in respect to the saws; to provide for temporarily lifting the breast as a whole to take the material in the roll-box out of range of the saws; and in addition it is desirable to provide means for taking the breast structure 6, 8, 9, 11, 16 out of the way in order to inspect or remove the saw cylinder.-

In the usual practice, the breast is pivoted at the top, for instance by bringing the board 16 t0 the member 1. In the present short studs sliding 'infbector slots 82 in brackets 81, which may be integral with or attached to the front uprights 1. Slots 82 are central. on the point of contact 83 between board 16 and member 1 when the breast is in normal position, Fig. 1. Studs 80 take into bearings 84 attached to the seedboard 11, the remainder of the grate-fall or movable breast being fast to the boards 11 and 18.

The adjustment of the operative position of the grate and the material being operated upon toward and away from the saw shaft 2 is effected by positioning the pivots 80 in their slots 81,"for instance by adjusting the limit-screws 85 in lugs 86 on the brackets 82.

To lift the breast away from the saws, one or both of the pivot studs 80 is provided with a handle 96 and cam 87 rigid therewith,

adapted to react with a roll 88 on bracket 82 to lift the pivot and the bottom of the breast by moving pivot 80 outwardly in slot 81. Cam 87 may be provided with a notch 89 to take over roll 88 at the maximum displacement of the pivot and breast. Gravity holds the loaded breast when the handle 86 is operated against the member 1, the breast turning about the point 83 as a pivot.

The whole breast structure is by these arrangements free to be turned about the pivots 80 into the position shown in Fig. 2, in order to romove, clean or sharpen the saws. Heretofore much good seed cotton has been wasted by having to dump the contents of the roll-box in the breast whenever the breast is taken off to get at the saws. To avoid this, the breast-hopper 17 is preferably provided with a hinged front-board 18 adapted to turn over and cover the opening into the roll-box. Board 18 may be held in place by any suitable catch, such as the spring catches 19 entering holes in the ends of board 18.

In front of the seed board 11 a seed deflector 90 hinged to the front board of the breast may be arranged as shown, to cause the seed to fall through an intake air current passing beneath the seed board 11 and above the front air-regulator plate 7 5.

The operation of the machine will now be apparent. The saw cylinder, running at any desired speed, usually about 550 R. P. M., takes the lint into its teeth when pulling it from its attachments at grate 9, or carries it with the saws and near them either by travel in the air moving by friction with the saws, or by electrical attraction. The relatively heavy motes are thrown off centrifugally into the space 28, the mote defiector 20 being set with its point between the stream of lint travelling with the saws? and the stream of motes thrown therefrom. This separation is distinct and thorough.

The lint is aided to travel with the saw by the suction current induced by trunk 50, which places the region of the chamber 28 under a slight vacuum. The action of this current can be regulated. by adjusting damper 33.

The motes are prevented from mingling again with the lint by deflector 20, and are removed from the machine by conveyor 30.

The action of the brush 5 will now be apparent. The only air moving with the brush is that frictionally engaged by its surface and tufts, and upon the sector of the brush approaching the saws and lying within casing 37 and under deflector 20 there is no air-inlet, so that the slight vacuum in duced by the brush in this space is filled up from chamber 28, if from anywhere; on the sector of the brush following engagement with the saws, the suction air-current into trunk 50 exceeds the effort of the brush to fan a current of air.

The action of the tufts of the brush on the lint to be doifed is then purely mechanical and results in clearing more deeply than heretofore the space between the saws of the lint travelling in this space, and throwing off centrifugally all of the lint affected by the brush into the space 74 at and within the suction-passage leading into trunk 50.

The incoming air for duct 50 is in part taken through chamber 28, in a greater part through the spaces between the grate-ribs and the saws, and in a still greater part enters between the seed deflector 90 and the regulator 75, passing under the seed board 11, and through the falling stream of seed. Detached fiber returned to the roll-box by the saws, or never removed from the rollbox on the saws, is stripped from the seed at this passage. It will be observed that every part of the material is subjected to this gathering current of air.

When the saws, or the brush, or both, are worn by use, the shaft 3 may be adjusted with respect to the concave 37 to maintain the relation of the brush to the concave, and the plates 40 lifted to position the trunk 50, the plate 70, the concave 37 and the brush 5 properly in relation to the new diameters of saw, or brush, or both. The useful life of a brush is greatly increased by this provision.

The trunk 60 may be a conduitshared in common by any desired number of gins, and may dehver into any desired form of condenser.

What I claim is:

1. A gin having therein primary fiber separating means in combination with a rotary doffer brush having its bristles disposed in axially spaced, annular rows, and means exterior to the gin for inducing a lint-conveying air-current into and through the gin, and with means cooperating with the primary separating means and said airmas er current to separate the motes and the good lint at a point in the travel of the latter prior to its engagement by the dofling means.

2. A saw gin having therein the usual grate-fall and saws whereby the material to be ginned is mechanically held in contact with the saws, a rotating doifer brush having its bristles arranged in axially spaced, annular rows, said brush being arranged beneath the saws, means between said gratefall and brush for deflecting centrifugally ejected motes, means providing a lint discharge passage at that portion of the brush opposite said mote deflector, and means for creating a partial vacuum in said passage.

.3. A saw gin having therein the usual grate-fall and saws, whereby the material to be ginned is mechanically held in contact with the saws, a. rotating dofling-brush beneath the saws, and having deep engagement with the latter and a casing for the saws and brush, a lint trunk leading therefrom, and means independent of the brush for inducin a negative pressure relation to the atmospi iere in the lint trunk, whereby to cause an inflow of air into all openings in the casing, and thence into the lint trunk.

4t. Mechanism for separating useful fiber from seeds, comprising a grate, a seedboard, a saw cylinder, and a dofler brush for dofling the fiber from the saw cylinder, in combination with means independent of air currents created by the dofler brush for establishing a flow of air in a direction sub stantially opposite to the current of denuded seeds flowing over the seed-board and out of the gin and in opposition to the travel of the periphery of the saw cylinder at entrance to the grate.

5. A gin having therein a saw-cylinder and grate, an enclosed space back of these parts into which motes may be thrown from the saw-cylinder, a mote deflector within said space, dofler means for stripping fiber I from the saws, and means independent of said dofler means for causing a suction current of air to flow from said space into the. interstices between the saws and means for regulating the flow of said air-current.

6. A gin havin therein a saw-cylinder and grate, an enc osed space back of these parts into which motes may be thrown from the saw-cylinder, a mote deflector within said space, dofler means for stripping fiber from the saws, and means independent of said dofler means for causing a suction current of air to flow from said space into the interstices between the saws, and means for regulating inflow of air into said space.

7. A gin having therein in combination rotary means for separating the fiber from its attachments, a rotary dotting-brush for removing the fiber from said separating means, an enclosure for these parts having an adjustable inlet opening, means for deflecting motes thrown centrifugally from said rotary separating means away from said brush and into said enclosure and means for inducing the flow of air inwardly through said opening.

8. A gin having therein a grate, a saw, and means for dofling fiber from the saw acting at a distance from the grate, in combination with means for establishing an aircurrent toward the saws between the grate and dofling means a mote deflector adapted to stand between the good fiber traveling with the saw and the motes centrifugally thrown therefrom at a point between the grate and the dofling means, and means for adjusting the position of said mote deflector.

9. A gin having therein a grate, a saw, and means for dofling fiber from the saw acting at a distance from the grate, an enclosure for these parts, and means for causing a regulated flow of air therein toward the saw in combination with a mote deflector, in said enclosure, adapted to stand between the good fiber traveling with the saw and the motes centrifugally thrown therefrom at a point between the grate and the dofling means, and means accessible from the exterior of said enclosure for adjusting the position of said mote deflector.

10. A gin having therein a grate for supporting the lint-bearing seed, a saw cylinder rotating in contact with the seed on the grate, and a dofling brush in peripheral contact with the saw cylinder rotating at a peripheral speed exceeding that of the saw cylinder, in combination with means interposed between the grate and the doflingbrush for receiving and deflecting motes centrifugally thrown from the saw cylinder, and pneumatic means independent of said brush for delivering the lint stripped from the saws by the brush from the machine.

11. A gin having therein a grate, a rotary saw-cylinder, a casiiig beneath the saw-cylinder, a dotting-brush rotating in deep engagement with a part of the periphery of the saw remote from the grate and within the casing, a delivery passage for lint leading past the periphery of the brush, and means independent of said brush for inducing a suction current in said passage, in combination with means interposed between the grate and the brush for receiving and deflecting from the brush motes thrown OR by the saw-cylinder.

12. A gin having therein a saw-cylinder, a mote deflector adapted to enter between good lint traveling with the saws and motes centrifugally thrown from the saws, and means for establishing a regulated flow of air toward the saws in opposition to the direction in which the motes are thrown.

13. A gin having therein a saw-cylinder,

amote deflector adapted to enter betu en good lint traveling with the saws and motes- 'centrifugally thrown from the saws, a backseal enclosing the saws and the mote-deflector, and providing a receptacle for the motes, and means for establishing a regulated flow of air through said enclosure and toward the saws in opposition to the direction in which the motes are thrown.

14. A gin having therein in combination a grate, a saw-cylinder, and a rotary dofferbrush having'tufts in relatively continuous annular series, whereby to operate with little air resistance, a casing defining a passage leading under the saw-cylinder and brus and means independent of the brush for inducing in said casing a draft of air away from the gin.

15. In a saw gin, a grate, the combination of a saw-cylinder, and a doffer-brush work ing on one side of the grate, and a chamber into which the doffer-brush throws lint stripped from the saws, with means for maintaining a suction current of hair into and through said chamber having inlets on said side of the grate.

16. A saw gin having therein a saw cylinder, a doffer-brush, and a lint-trunk, and means for simultaneously adjusting the linttrunk and brush toward and away from the saw-cylinder.

17. A s aw gin having therein a saw-cylinder, a doffer-brush therefor, means for impeding flow of air about the periphery of the dofl'er-brush on the side opposite the saw-cylinder, and means for adjusting said brush and impeding means in respect to the saw-cylinder.

18. A saw gin having therein a saw-cylinder, a doffer-brush therefor, means for impeding flow of air about said brush on the side opposite its point of contact with the saws, and a suction lint-trunk having an opening on the delivery side of said brush.

19. saw gin having therein a saw-cylinder, a doffer-brush therefor, means for impeding flow of air about said brush on the side opposite its point of contact with the saws, and asuction lint-trunk having an opening on the delivery side of said brush, and means for adjusting the position of the brush, impeding means and lint-trunk i relation to the saw-cylinder.

20. In a gin, means for adjusting the parts to take up wear comprising slides 'mounted on the frame. means for positioning the slides, a doffer-brush having bearings mounted on the slides, and a lint-trunk having one end mounted on and movable with the slides. i

21'. In a gin, means for adjusting the parts to take up wear comprising slides mounted on the frame, adjusting screws for positioning the slides, a doifer-brush having bearings adjustably mounted on the slides, and a lint-trunk having one end mounted on and movable with the slides.

22. A gin having therein a rotary dofferbrush, a linttrunk comprising a section having one end mounted on movable slides also-carrying bearings for the doifer-brush, and having an adjustable connection between said section and another section of the lint-tru-nk mounted on the machine frame.-

23. A gin having therein a rotary dofferbrush, adjustable slides carrying bearings for said brush and a section of a lint-trunk into which said brush delivers, and having a housing plate continuing one wall of the lint-trunk and defining with the surface of said brush an entrance chamber for the linttrunk.

24. A gin havingtherein a rotary doiferbrush, adjustable slides carrying bearings for said brush and a section of a lint-trunkinto which said brush delivers, and having a housing plate adjustable with and angularly adjustable upon said slides, and continuing one wall of the lint-trunk and defining with the surface of said brush an entrance chamber for the lint-trunk,

2.5. A gin having therein a grate, and seed-board, a saw-cylinder, a rotary doiferbrush, and a suction lint-trunk. and having means for inducing an inflow of air through the discharged seeds and past the saws comprising a plate continuing the lower edge of a suction-trunk leaving the space beneath the doifer-brush, means for adjusting the rotative position of said plate in respect to its juncture with said trunk, and adjustable means at the front edge of said plate for controlling the infiowing air-current in respect to the seed-board and saw-cylinder.

Signed by me at Dallas, Texas, this 14th day of August, 1919.

ARTHUR A. VARDELL. 

